Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s3.225

c9.s3.225

¹ *Chhāndogya*, I. 10. 1; *Bṛihad. Upanishad*, III, 4. For earlier vicissitudes, see Ṛigveda, X. 98 (drought in the time of Saṃtanu); Mbh. I 94 (story of Saṃvaraṇa). The *Chhāndogya Upanishad* says: *maṭachīhateṣhu Kurushvāṭikyā sahajāyayā Ushastir ha Chākrāyaṇa ibhya-grame pradrāṇaka uvāsa.* ‘When Kuruland was devastated by hailstones or locusts, Ushasti Chākrāyaṇa repaired with his virgin wife to a magnate's village and there lived in great distress.’ The plight of the Brāhmaṇa and his wife offers a sad contrast to the condition of the Kauravya and his lady who "throve merrily in the realm of Parikshit." Commentators took *maṭachi* to mean 'thunderbolt', 'hailstone' or 'a kind of small red bird' or 'locust.' The last meaning accords with the evidence of the *Devībhāgavatam*, X, 13. 110, *maṭachī yūthavattesham samudayāstu nirgatāḥ*. The Kanarese word *midiche* has the same sense (Kittel's Dictionary; Jacob, *Scraps from Shaddarśana, JRAS*, 1911, 510; *Vedic Index*, II, 119; Bhand. *Carm. Lec.*, 1918, 26-27; Bagchi, *IHQ*, 1933, 253).